France, Japan, Italy: Las Vegas
Las Vegas. The actual melting pot of the melting pot. Every single type of human comes to Las Vegas.
Therefore, a knock off of seemingly every culture is located on the strip.
I stayed at The Venetian. The view was all lights, and Trump's gold tower.
Italy.
Obviously pretty low expectations having lived in Florence. However, the cutest old woman with lipstick on her teeth stopped me on the elevator to talk about how mesmerizing the hotel was and how splendid the ferris wheel was outside of her window. That was perfectly adorable and reminded me to bring my nose back down out of the air and see it through her eyes.
A fake piazza that was PACKED constantly. That sky is painted, mind you. And it will throw off your mental state when you get done working at 11PM.
So, back in Italy. We booked tickets for a day in Venice. We got there during a monsoon of a rain storm. We broke three umbrellas, got completely soaked trying to walk to a cafe, and got really good at cribbage waiting for the train to come pick us up.
So the gondola ride that we never had flooded back to me the moment that I heard the singing striped shirt coming around the corner.
France.
Zach stayed at the hotel a few months ago and when I begged him to tell me where any outdoor patio was, he told me to go to Bouchon.
And it was a dream. The space was beautiful, quiet, and far from the casino. The patio was a secret garden. And there was nothing imitative about the food. Simple french menu and endless black coffee.
Japan.
I ventured out for a long walk one night and wound up at Blue Ribbon Sushi. Zach had also recommended this place. Planted by Blue Ribbon in NYC, the chefs are bowed to in the sushi world. The menu was overwhelming with some of the most diverse sushi that I have seen.
The soy sauce is homemade, and sooooo salty and thick. MMMMM
The sake is warm and cozy-despite the hot hot heat, I will alway settle in for cold sushi and warm sake.
Hello to live shrimp before my eyes.
I am not terribly adventurous with seafood, so I stuck to a little tuna, the Spanish salmon, and the Tazmanian trout.
And then the chef offered me a little side special. Pure fish, but all tuna and salmon. PHEW. I would have totally tried something awful because he gave it to me, but luckily it was SO so good.
My taste buds were way happy and they enjoyed the expertise of Las Vegas chefs. But, when it was time to come home, I could not have been happier.
There's a lot of knock offs in Las Vegas, but I got lucky on the authentic recommendations this time!
-Happy to be back on Pleasant Street.
